La Flèche Wallonne

The spring classics season concluded with even more spectacular racing from Belgium.

Valverde is looking increasingly strong this season, but will soon need to show his form in a multi-stage event to prepare for his attempt at the Tour de France.
Photo © Getty Images

The race from Bastogne to Huy, held on a 194km route, was keenly contested by a series of high profile riders, but not before a crash dispatched two before they could lay claim on the Huy.

Damiano Cunego and Joaquim Rodríguez were the two riders caught up in the main accident of the day and meant that both were unable to stretch their legs on the final climb – particularly disappointing for Rodríguez considering his prowess on the shorter, more punchy climbs. It also left Amstel Gold winner Philippe Gilbert out of position, losing time behind the resulting concertina effect on the road.

That left the likes of Belkin’s Bauke Mollema to start the initial attacks on the Mur de Huy, with Michal Kwiatkowski in tow countering the manoeuvre in a race that once again showed how strong and important he could be for the Omega Pharma-Quick Step grand tour teams (and therefore Mark Cavendish) this year.

It was also a chance for Dan Martin to show his burgeoning form after an illness-affected classics season, and he impressed – having been caught up in the same delay that ended Gilbert’s hopes, he found himself back in contention right to the finishing line.

Unfortunately for the Irishman, he had too much work to do at to fend off the eventual winner, Alejandro Valverde. In the post-race interviews, he said, “Every year I seem to get a little bit better but again I was a little too far back at the bottom of the climb. With a few hundred metres to go I did think I might have had it but he [Valverde] flew past and left me for dead.”

And so it was; the man who has had one of his most successful starts to a season, Valverde, launched a final effort that Martin was unable to answer and claimed his second Flèche Wallonne, from Kwiatkowski in third.

Liège-Bastogne-Liège

All of La Flèche Wallonne podium riders were also in contention with 20km to go of Liège-Bastogne-Liège, with Domenico Pozzovivo and Julián Arredondo ahead of the trio, who were joined by Tinkoff-Saxo’s Roman Kreuziger, Astana’s Jakob Fuglsang and BMC’s Philippe Gilbert.

It was a particularly skittish final 20km though, with the continual attacks off the front boosting the pace of the chasing pack keeping the two leaders within close proximity. It became a strange scenario where the breakaway couldn’t build a gap, yet the favourites were holding themselves up just enough to allow teammates to rejoin and establish a sizeable peloton ahead of the finale in Liège.

On the final climb in Liège though the days tactics played out, with Orica-GreenEdge (for Simon Gerrans) and Movistar (for Valverde) dominating the front of the group, before the attacks began to blow the race apart.

At the summit though, only Pozzovivo had survived of the escapees earlier, with newcomer Damiano Caruso having joined him. They set about their task of working together to reach the finish line of the final spring classic of the season before getting swallowed up by the chasers, and with 3km to go they held a 12 second gap.

By this time, the real strongmen and marquee figures of the peloton had filtered through and worked hard to bring back the two riders out front. It also meant riders started attacking again off the front as some tried to solo their way back to the leaders (perhaps hoping a game of cat and mouse would ensue and give them an opportunity to capitalise).

In a final twist, Dan Martin who seemed perfectly placed to figure for the victory lost his front wheel seemingly innocuously on the final turn at 300m to go, clattering to the floor (his hopes of defending his La Doyenne title ending there and then).

That left Gerrans to hold off Valverde and Kwiatkowski to take the win. After the race, he paid tribute to his team, saying, “At 30km to go, I really didn’t have the legs, so I really have to thank my team for getting me in the right place come the end.”

It represents a neat bookmark for Gerrans, who started the year in the Tour Down Under with overall victory. He now enters the next rounds of multi-stage races at the front of the pack and in great form.